Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:04 amPosts: 779Location: Close to a World Below

Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 3:50 am

Sporadic Slaughter has now finished, bumping just one last time in case anyone wants a copy of the ep 'Thoughts on our Significance'.

Just posting this to promote my band Sporadic Slaughter as we have recently just released our new EP titled Thoughts on our Significance. We are a 5 piece Death metal band from Rotherham in the UK, our newest release is available for free from our bandcamp site,

We are also making physical copies of the EP so if anyone would like one just drop me a private message. Thanks for listening!Thanks to MutantClannfear for reviewing this ep! Review below.

I'm just going to jump right into it for this one: Sporadic Slaughter's Thoughts on Our Significance is a solid slab of death metal, and while it's only an 11-minute EP it definitely holds a lot of potential for something really good to come out of it in the future. The music is actually pretty diverse for death metal, not in that it reaches from other genres but it combines a sizable amount of subscenes into a cohesive whole. The meat of the music is half-based around thick, meaty brutal death metal tremolo riffs that lurch forward like walking tanks, and then half-based on the weird sort of partially melodeath, partially super-downtuned riffs that you often hear associated with deathcore bands. Add a pinch of Immolation-styled dissonant chords that get mixed in with some of the riffing, and blammo, you've got the formula presented here.

Sporadic Slaughter apparently used to be a death/thrash band, but there aren't any remnants of that left over here - what's displayed on this EP just straight death metal in one shape or another. While this isn't entirely my cup of tea taste-wise (for reasons I'll get to in just a second), I will concede that it flows really well: the riffs all have little bits of hooks to keep the listener interested and the music flows between tempos pretty well. A sizable amount of the music hovers around a comfortable, rolling mid-pace, but personally I find that I enjoy this release most when it's pulling off one of its precise, blastier sections. I've never been one for mid-paced tempos in death metal, so I can't really say the slower riffs are my thing. The vocals are solid, though - while not particularly interesting, the meat-and-potatoes low growls and snarky, venomous screams serve the backing instruments well.

While I'm not exactly orgasming over this release in its current presentation, I think the band have a lot of potential and I could see a death metal giant rising from this EP. I think Sporadic Slaughter have the right sound to go all-out with the space thing - a crunchy and vaguely sci-fi guitar tone that gives the music a bit of airy weight, a sense of distinct depth within the production job, and so on. The music feels built for little pieces of flair like spacey Wormed chords, subtle synths underneath the guitars, and bits of ambient surrounding the album. The material here feels like the perfect framework for that sort of stuff to work - all the band would need to do is add it in. Aside from that, I feel like the music could use a bit more groove - not in the form of breakdowns or slams, but riffs that are just a bit catchier. Thoughts on Our Significance has impressive compositions, but the slightly static sense of rhythm could stand to be livened up at least a bit. So, yeah, it's not perfect. But it shows an absurd amount of potential to be something ridiculously good, and in its current state, it's still some pretty cool death metal with enough quality riffs for it to be worth your time if you're interested in the general style.

Another review from dystopia4!!!!

For such a young band, Sporadic Slaughter have a hell of a lot going for them. They aren't anything distinctly original, but they most certainly have their shit sorted out. Part of what makes them interesting is not that they've added anything new to the death metal repertoire, but that they amalgamate so many different sub-styles so effortlessly. They don't constantly hop between different death metal styles with little regard for cohesion. The different tangents sprout up organically - a little brutal here, a little OSDM there. It flows naturally. Although it is hard to assume that this is the best this adolescent band will muster, this already shows the group on some damn solid footing.

Although early in the band's career, Sporadic Slaughter could easily be a well established group. The production is professional, while lacking any traces of sterility. You won't miss a note of what's going on, though all remains vigorous. The band is perhaps at their best when they lay down a fat mid-paced groove and let it rip. When they just let these grooves roll on for a bit, everything clicks. These parts allow for a fortified backbone, while blasty spazz parts, brief melodies or strong tremolo sprout off from this - almost always achieving positive results. The band employs two vocal styles. By far the most prominent is a cavernous death growl. Not anything you wouldn't expect, but whatever, the execution is excellent and that's more than enough. The other is a shrill rasp more typical of black metal (often accompanying tremolo sections). It's alright, not entirely necessary, although could hardly be considered a detractor.

Now that they've established themselves as an entity capable of fucking your shit up, they need to do something with their destructive capabilities. They've set themselves up as a band worth checking out, now they need to find their niche. They've already established a spacey vibe with their minimalistic starry cover (actually reminds me of the default Mac screensaver, haha) and their surprisingly thoughtful and introspective lyrics, which again, relate to space. If they let this bleed into their music, I don't think they should do it in a subtle way. They should allow the more destructive side of the universe a chance to unfold. I'm thinking splashes of industrial-tinged dark ambient, crawling, off-kilter leads and perhaps more pronounced disorienting tech sections. Of course, the band should evolve whatever way they deem fit, though. I just hope they do evolve and do something interesting with this weighty framework they have laid out.

While Sporadic Slaughter haven't yet found their niche, they do a damn good job at incorporating multiple styles of death metal into one congruent sound. This is worth listening to on its own, although it doesn't take any stretch of the imagination to assume that the band will go on to achieve much greater works. They manage to sound simultaneously modern while holding a distinct old school charm. This is a framework that is solid as rock and deserves to be explored to the fullest extent.

Another review by Zerberus

Sporadic Slaughter have been lurking in the British scene around Yorkshire for about ten years now, and in celebration of their ten year anniversary chugging out death metal riffs their name was shortened to just "Sporadic" in 2014. Their latest release, the EP "Thoughts On Our Significance" landed on my desk in the summer of 2013, emanating a sense of cosmic purpose, the cover art suggesting a theme of science fiction and astronomy.

Most bands aim to distinguish themselves from similar groups or from any obvious trends, whether they're following them consciously or not. But in that way it seems almost as though Sporadic Slaughter are doing everything in their power to just shoehorn themselves in a spot right in between most half-technically alligned modernized death metal bands, with especially the closing track Devolution of Consciousness bringing to mind something along the lines of Carnifex or Ingested. But time and time again it has been proven that being different isn't necessarily a sign of quality, or vice versa, and in that regard the British quintet excel in their chug-feting brand of death metal. Their sound is crisp and warm, their grooves appealing and their rhythms tight. As it should be.

During my first listening session I had inadvertently listened to the EP four or five times without even realizing it. The formularic nature of Sporadic Slaughter's songwriting makes it harder to discern the songs from each other, groovy as they may be. The dense production also makes details not stand out as much as what would be preferable, meaning that the chugging grooves and grooving chugs of Thoughts On Our Significance prevail in their domination of the soundscapes presented. This only further cements the notion that Sporadic Slaughter's latest EP is a bit "run of the mill" in regards to songwriting, enthusiastic execution or not.

By the time I had written this review I had listened to the EP in its entirety about nine times, and by now certain features of familiarity become apparent, but still only in the sense that it sounds so bloody similar to so many other groups out there. As mentioned earlier the British band play with adequate enthusiasm and dynamics within the band, as is custom and necessary within the genre, but in the long run it's not quite enough to keep things afloat all by itself. 6/10 guitars.

Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:04 amPosts: 779Location: Close to a World Below

Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 5:57 pm

Totally know what you mean, part of me wishes we did actually change the name as i think it does give of the wrong first impression of what we are about, you are a good example of this. But i would like to think our music does the talking if you can see past the name. I think we have just got stuck with the name over time, we have been together nearly ten years now!

Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:04 amPosts: 779Location: Close to a World Below

Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:17 am

Thanks to MutantClannfear for reviewing this ep! Review below.

I'm just going to jump right into it for this one: Sporadic Slaughter's Thoughts on Our Significance is a solid slab of death metal, and while it's only an 11-minute EP it definitely holds a lot of potential for something really good to come out of it in the future. The music is actually pretty diverse for death metal, not in that it reaches from other genres but it combines a sizable amount of subscenes into a cohesive whole. The meat of the music is half-based around thick, meaty brutal death metal tremolo riffs that lurch forward like walking tanks, and then half-based on the weird sort of partially melodeath, partially super-downtuned riffs that you often hear associated with deathcore bands. Add a pinch of Immolation-styled dissonant chords that get mixed in with some of the riffing, and blammo, you've got the formula presented here.

Sporadic Slaughter apparently used to be a death/thrash band, but there aren't any remnants of that left over here - what's displayed on this EP just straight death metal in one shape or another. While this isn't entirely my cup of tea taste-wise (for reasons I'll get to in just a second), I will concede that it flows really well: the riffs all have little bits of hooks to keep the listener interested and the music flows between tempos pretty well. A sizable amount of the music hovers around a comfortable, rolling mid-pace, but personally I find that I enjoy this release most when it's pulling off one of its precise, blastier sections. I've never been one for mid-paced tempos in death metal, so I can't really say the slower riffs are my thing. The vocals are solid, though - while not particularly interesting, the meat-and-potatoes low growls and snarky, venomous screams serve the backing instruments well.

While I'm not exactly orgasming over this release in its current presentation, I think the band have a lot of potential and I could see a death metal giant rising from this EP. I think Sporadic Slaughter have the right sound to go all-out with the space thing - a crunchy and vaguely sci-fi guitar tone that gives the music a bit of airy weight, a sense of distinct depth within the production job, and so on. The music feels built for little pieces of flair like spacey Wormed chords, subtle synths underneath the guitars, and bits of ambient surrounding the album. The material here feels like the perfect framework for that sort of stuff to work - all the band would need to do is add it in. Aside from that, I feel like the music could use a bit more groove - not in the form of breakdowns or slams, but riffs that are just a bit catchier. Thoughts on Our Significance has impressive compositions, but the slightly static sense of rhythm could stand to be livened up at least a bit. So, yeah, it's not perfect. But it shows an absurd amount of potential to be something ridiculously good, and in its current state, it's still some pretty cool death metal with enough quality riffs for it to be worth your time if you're interested in the general style.

Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:04 amPosts: 779Location: Close to a World Below

Posted: Mon Aug 26, 2013 4:01 pm

Cheers to dystopia4 for this new review.

For such a young band, Sporadic Slaughter have a hell of a lot going for them. They aren't anything distinctly original, but they most certainly have their shit sorted out. Part of what makes them interesting is not that they've added anything new to the death metal repertoire, but that they amalgamate so many different sub-styles so effortlessly. They don't constantly hop between different death metal styles with little regard for cohesion. The different tangents sprout up organically - a little brutal here, a little OSDM there. It flows naturally. Although it is hard to assume that this is the best this adolescent band will muster, this already shows the group on some damn solid footing.

Although early in the band's career, Sporadic Slaughter could easily be a well established group. The production is professional, while lacking any traces of sterility. You won't miss a note of what's going on, though all remains vigorous. The band is perhaps at their best when they lay down a fat mid-paced groove and let it rip. When they just let these grooves roll on for a bit, everything clicks. These parts allow for a fortified backbone, while blasty spazz parts, brief melodies or strong tremolo sprout off from this - almost always achieving positive results. The band employs two vocal styles. By far the most prominent is a cavernous death growl. Not anything you wouldn't expect, but whatever, the execution is excellent and that's more than enough. The other is a shrill rasp more typical of black metal (often accompanying tremolo sections). It's alright, not entirely necessary, although could hardly be considered a detractor.

Now that they've established themselves as an entity capable of fucking your shit up, they need to do something with their destructive capabilities. They've set themselves up as a band worth checking out, now they need to find their niche. They've already established a spacey vibe with their minimalistic starry cover (actually reminds me of the default Mac screensaver, haha) and their surprisingly thoughtful and introspective lyrics, which again, relate to space. If they let this bleed into their music, I don't think they should do it in a subtle way. They should allow the more destructive side of the universe a chance to unfold. I'm thinking splashes of industrial-tinged dark ambient, crawling, off-kilter leads and perhaps more pronounced disorienting tech sections. Of course, the band should evolve whatever way they deem fit, though. I just hope they do evolve and do something interesting with this weighty framework they have laid out.

While Sporadic Slaughter haven't yet found their niche, they do a damn good job at incorporating multiple styles of death metal into one congruent sound. This is worth listening to on its own, although it doesn't take any stretch of the imagination to assume that the band will go on to achieve much greater works. They manage to sound simultaneously modern while holding a distinct old school charm. This is a framework that is solid as rock and deserves to be explored to the fullest extent.

Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:04 amPosts: 779Location: Close to a World Below

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 11:55 am

Still got a few copies of this ep left if any one wants one. Hopefully we will be recording again in the spring some time, but under a slightly different name. We are now known as 'Sporadic' and not 'Sporadic Slaughter'. Not too much of a drastic name change but still its a still change in name!

Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:04 amPosts: 779Location: Close to a World Below

Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 3:56 am

Sporadic Slaughter is done! Thanks for listening, let me know if you want an ep!

Thanks to Zerberus for this review,

Sporadic Slaughter have been lurking in the British scene around Yorkshire for about ten years now, and in celebration of their ten year anniversary chugging out death metal riffs their name was shortened to just "Sporadic" in 2014. Their latest release, the EP "Thoughts On Our Significance" landed on my desk in the summer of 2013, emanating a sense of cosmic purpose, the cover art suggesting a theme of science fiction and astronomy.

Most bands aim to distinguish themselves from similar groups or from any obvious trends, whether they're following them consciously or not. But in that way it seems almost as though Sporadic Slaughter are doing everything in their power to just shoehorn themselves in a spot right in between most half-technically alligned modernized death metal bands, with especially the closing track Devolution of Consciousness bringing to mind something along the lines of Carnifex or Ingested. But time and time again it has been proven that being different isn't necessarily a sign of quality, or vice versa, and in that regard the British quintet excel in their chug-feting brand of death metal. Their sound is crisp and warm, their grooves appealing and their rhythms tight. As it should be.

During my first listening session I had inadvertently listened to the EP four or five times without even realizing it. The formularic nature of Sporadic Slaughter's songwriting makes it harder to discern the songs from each other, groovy as they may be. The dense production also makes details not stand out as much as what would be preferable, meaning that the chugging grooves and grooving chugs of Thoughts On Our Significance prevail in their domination of the soundscapes presented. This only further cements the notion that Sporadic Slaughter's latest EP is a bit "run of the mill" in regards to songwriting, enthusiastic execution or not.

By the time I had written this review I had listened to the EP in its entirety about nine times, and by now certain features of familiarity become apparent, but still only in the sense that it sounds so bloody similar to so many other groups out there. As mentioned earlier the British band play with adequate enthusiasm and dynamics within the band, as is custom and necessary within the genre, but in the long run it's not quite enough to keep things afloat all by itself. 6/10 guitars.